


you came out of nowhere

by renlybaratheon



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Pynch Week, Texting, Wrong number, im terrible at tags pls advise, long distance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 02:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11681859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renlybaratheon/pseuds/renlybaratheon
Summary: Adam Parrish is given a fake number after a bad date, but it might just be the best thing that's ever happened to him...





	you came out of nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> hi i based this off of [this great text post](http://adamronan.co.vu/post/163046111273/ok-but-imagine-an-au-where-adam-has-a-terrible), and wrote it with permission by the op :) enjoy :)
> 
> title from the very pynch song [out of nowhere by seafret](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lulhqrq9YIo)
> 
> also I'm sorry for no opal :( please forgive me. I just didn't know where to put my granddaughter in this

It was a bad date, perhaps Adam's worst in a while. The girl was nice enough but he just didn't click with her. This was the last time he was going to allow himself to be set up by his roommate and good friend, Henry Cheng. It was his freshman year in college, and he had been on three dates now thanks to Henry's meddling. The first one went well enough, until the guy tried to have sex on the first date and he politely declined. The second one was fine, except the girl didn't seem to understand some people _like_ science. This one was just all sorts of bad, but even so, even knowing the date went so poorly he asked for her number at the end of the date anyway. To be polite.

 

 

**(11:30 pm)** _thanks for tonight. hope you got home safe_

 

**(11:45 pm)** i'd say you're welcome but who the fuck is this

 

**(11:45 pm)** _isn't this izzy?_

 

And it clicked all too late as he hit send that this girl gave him a wrong phone number. Obviously she didn't like him either.

 

**(11:46 pm)** no, stranger danger. this isn't fucking izzy

 

**(11.46 pm)** pal, u just got fake numbered. damn I thought the fucks that did that were smarter than this. isn't it a thing now you give the number to Red Cross or something?

 

This person was annoying, and now Adam was upset. What did he do that made her give him a fake number? Maybe it was when he rolled his eyes as she talked about her trip to Cancun last summer. Or when he asked to split the check. Well, why pay for her meal when he knew it wasn't going anywhere and she ordered lobster? That's just- He sighed staring down at the bright screen in an otherwise dark room. He was laying in bed with Henry snoring across the room. Henry could sleep through anything, and often he did.

 

**(11:50 pm)** _i don't know what you're talking about_

 

**(11:51 pm)** damn what did you do to get a fake number? make the whole conversation about you? show off photos of your cat? talk about your exes?

 

**(11:52 pm)** _are these all things you've done on bad dates? You sound like you know a lot about getting fake numbered._

 

**(11:52 pm)** _asshole_

 

Why was Ronan texting this person? Why was Ronan texting at all? He hated his phone with a fiery passion, but it was a dull night at the apartment. Gansey and Noah were still out, and were likely going to remain out all night. It was Saturday night, with midterms on the horizon, and everyone was soaking in their last bit of life left before giving it all up to study their asses off. Not Ronan. No need. He was home and putting off his homework like always.

He wondered how this Izzy person got his number, or if it was just bad luck this dumbass got him as the person to wrongly text. But it was fun texting him and mocking him for receiving a wrong number. It was even more intriguing that this person, he assumed was a guy, was being an asshole back.

 

**(11:55 pm)** no, I'll have you know all my dates go perfectly well. unlike yours evidently

 

( **11:56 pm)** _fuck you. I only was texting her to be polite. it wasn't a great date for me either_

 

**(11:57 pm)** who fucking texts thanks for tonight if it was a shitty date?

 

**(11:57 pm)** _nice people_

 

**(11:58 pm)** hahahahaha ok bud. your date ended before 11:30 pm. real nice

 

**(11:59 pm)** _and what are you doing with your night? sitting at home texting a random number?_

 

**(12:01 am)** I could be at a bar right now. you don't know my life

 

When this person didn't reply right away, Ronan was a little disappointed. He managed a whole half hour of conversation that made time fly by. He thought he could handle the banter, but he supposed even random numbers got bored. Ronan couldn't help himself, texting him again.

 

**(12:19 am)** wait how was it a date but you got a fake number from it?

 

**(12:23 am)** _my roommate set me up_

 

**(12:23 am)** _don't mock me I can feel you mocking me_

 

**(12:25 am)** that hard up for dates you let your roommate set you up?

 

**(12:30 am)** _I said don't mock me_

 

**(12:31 am)** here. tell me what you did on the date and I'll tell you when it went south

 

**(12:34 am)** _why would I allow a stranger to give me dating advice, who is clearly not at a bar and instead is home alone_

 

**(12:35 am)** I may be home but I'm not alone

 

**(12:35 am)** [1 attachment]

 

Adam didn't expect to still be talking to this person an hour after discovering it wasn't Izzy, and yet here he was. The person could've been a killer or a teenage girl or something, and yet he was both insulted and amused by them enough he kept texting. He knew he should sleep. He had work in the morning and then plans to study after with his best friend, Blue, but he was wide awake now, more so than throughout the whole date.

The picture was of a baby raven, sleeping in their cage. He was immediately jealous that they had a pet, immediately impressed it was a raven, and a little concerned that he tried to zoom in on a blurry reflection of this person in the corner of the picture.

 

**(12:39 am)** _you goth or something_

 

**(12:41 am)** why do people always ask me that when they see chainsaw?

 

**(12:43 am)** _their name is chainsaw?_

 

**(12:43 am)** yes her name is chainsaw. got a fucking problem with that?

 

**(12:44 am)** _no, it seems to fit you. somehow. so does having a pet raven_

 

Ronan debated what to say next. He was suddenly a little nervous, a little shy. What the fuck. He didn't even know this person.

 

**(12:55 am)** I'm Ronan btw

 

Adam smiled down at his phone. Oh god. _Ronan_. Knowing his name now was making this all the more real, that this wasn't Izzy playing some sick mind game with him to get him to get lost. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he debated to continue this. He was having more fun texting Ronan than he did all night with Izzy.

 

**(12:57 am)** _Adam_

 

**(12:58 am)** age?

 

**(12:58 am)** _75_

 

**(1:00 am)** wow what a night for a 75 year old. isn't it a bit late for you??

 

**(1:02 am)** _well I didn't get out much as a younger man. don't follow in my footsteps_

 

**(1:03 am)** ahahaha fucker

 

**(1:04 am)** I'm nineteen.

 

**(1:04 am)** well, in a couple weeks

 

**(1:05 am)** _shit. around midterms?_

 

**(1:05 am)** yah fucking blows.

 

**(1:07 am)** _I'm nineteen too by the way_

 

When Ronan didn't reply back right away, Adam suspected he must have fallen asleep, or maybe he got bored of him. He couldn't tell which, and admittedly it was bugging him a little. If after all that Ronan was just going to--

 

**(1:15 am)** how do I know you aren't actually 75? send me a picture of you

 

**(1:17 am)** _how would you know it's really me?_

 

**(1:18 am)** good point. send one with a stapler  on your head

 

**(1:19 am)** _a stapler?_

 

**(1:19 am)** yeah no one fucking takes photos with a stapler on their head. I'll know it's really you

 

Adam chewed the inside of his cheek again. He was admittedly self conscious about this. What if this guy stopped texting him after that? What if he found him ugly? Looks weren't everything, and who knew if this guy was flirting with him, but he had to be right? It just made sense. He sat upright when he realized it didn't matter in the long run. If the guy stopped texting him because of that then well, fuck him. This wasn't high school Adam anymore. He was college Adam, and he didn't work hard on his self confidence for nothing.

 

**(1:20 am)** _fine._

 

**(1:20 am)** _I want you to send me one too. of you with chainsaw in the background. so I know it's you too._

 

**(1:21 am)** deal

 

Adam struggled to find a stapler in the dark, and then he walked into the bathroom and shut the door so he could both have privacy and turn the light on. After straining his eyes a moment, he focused and placed the stapler on his head, then sent the picture. 

\-----

Ronan felt like this was dangerous, to flirt with someone who was just on a date with a girl. Izzy was a girl's name wasn't it? Maybe he was bi? Maybe Ronan's lack of game was so poorly he thought this was flirting.

Either way, he settled in and acknowledged tonight was nice. Texting this Adam wasn't awful. He got more use out of his phone tonight than all of the last three months.

He angled it so Chainsaw could clearly be seen in the background, and then he took the photo.

 

**(1:34 am)** _[1 attachment]_

 

**(1:35 am)** [1 attachment]

 

"Fuck," Adam whispered to himself in the bathroom. "He's hot."

Ronan was sitting there with a thin pout as if visualizing his reluctance to take this picture. Chainsaw was still asleep in her cage behind him, the low lighting poorly illuminating Ronan's face. But even in the dark he was all jaw and cheekbones and penetrating eyes.

Jesus Christ.

\-----

Ronan couldn't stop staring at the photo of Adam he received. He was smiling awkwardly into the camera, standing with his back against a door, likely the bathroom with the towel hanging behind him.

It was bright in his photo, yellowed by the false light. He had the stapler held to his head in his other hand and he was staring up at it as if checking it wouldn't fall off. He had prominent freckles bridged along his nose and cheeks and a spark of blue in his eyes. Ronan was so fucked.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

After going to bed at nearly 3 am last night Adam was dead tired. Not even coffee could help keep him awake, which he drank before his shift five hours later. But it was worth it, he thought. It more than made up for his terrible date with Izzy last night.

Work was work, and Adam was exhausted by it more than usual because of his late night. But he kept going back to his conversation with Ronan, someone who was sarcastic and an asshole and made him smile more than his date with Izzy. Thankfully Henry didn't wake up before he left so he didn't have to explain to him just yet that another person he set him up with didn't work out.

He was having more fun with Ronan. Last night they already brushed through a lot of basics, their interests in films and music and food and studying. Adam was studying engineering, and Ronan was studying agricultural economics.

 

**(2:15 am)** takes a shit load more than just planting to be a fucking farmer

 

That afternoon during his break, Adam texted him again. He wanted to know if it was a fluke, if last night was all they would get.

 

**(2:07 pm)** _hey asshole_

 

**(2:10 pm)** did someone else give you my number again instead of theirs? take a hint buddy

 

**(2:11 pm)** _nope, i'm purposefully messaging you_

 

**(2:12 pm)** still not 75 right

 

**(2:13 pm)** _[1 attachment]_

**(2:13 pm)** _do I look 75_

 

Ronan received a second selfie from Adam, of him in his uniform at work at some coffee place. He had bags under his eyes that looked heavy, and his hair was a bit of a mess. But god he looked cute, even more so in natural light. This was a bit of a problem.

 

**(2:15 pm)** you could pass for 65

 

**(2:17 pm)** _fuck you_

 

Ronan laughed, against his better judgment. This afternoon he was hanging out with Gansey and Noah, both of whom were sitting right there staring at him strangely when he looked up from his phone.

"What?" He scowled, fixing his face for the appearance of it all. Inside he was still grinning at Adam's texts, as they messaged more even as he focused on his friends' expressions.

"You're on your phone," Noah said. "That's not a thing."

"And you're _smiling_ ," Gansey added. "Are you okay?"

"Hey, fuck you guys." Ronan sat up in the chair he was in, in the living room of their shared place.

"You never respond to my texts," Noah continued.

"And you normally don't smile unless it's at someone else's expense," said Gansey.

Ronan's mood was souring, even though he felt his phone vibrate a little from a new text.

"Fuck you guys," he said again, giving up sitting out here and rising from his seat.

"Who are you talking to?" Noah asked.

Gansey gasped. "Oh my god. Do you have a secret boyfriend? Are you keeping secrets from me?" Noah slapped him on the arm. "From us?"

Ronan said nothing to them. He was tired from the teasing and decided instead to go talk to Adam privately for a while, realizing his mistake in using his phone in front of his friends. An avid anti-phone person, it was understandably suspicious why he was using one out of nowhere. But fuck them anyway.

 

**(2:23 pm)** _my breaks almost up :(_

 

**(2:23 pm)** where do you work?

 

**(2:24 pm)** _the starbucks in harvard square_

 

Adam wondered if it was such a good idea to tell him exactly where he worked. There was a childlike hope that he would perhaps drop by and they could do this in person. He wasn't even sure if he was interested in men, but Adam was and he was definitely interested in Ronan.

 

**(2:25 pm)** are you in massachusetts?

 

**(2:26 pm)** _yeah. aren't you? I know the area code's off. I just assumed you weren't local like me_

 

**(2:27 pm)** i'm in new york.

 

"Fuck," Ronan cursed. He knew this was too good to be true. They weren't in the same city. They weren't even in the same state. He sank down on his bed next to Chainsaw, who squawked at him when she noticed he returned.

 

**(2:29 pm)** _oh. I don't know why I just assumed. that's cool though_

**(2:29 pm)** _my break's over. i'll ttyl_

 

Adam was a little glum heading back to work. Up until he put his phone in his locker again, Ronan didn't text back. He spent the rest of his shift hating that he didn't have a car, that he got this number from Izzy and he liked him but he wasn't in the city. He should be a little grateful that at least it was one state over, but it wasn't the same. Blue once dated a girl in Queens, and it couldn't survive the distance.

He only met him last night through an accident. He knew he shouldn't overthink it already, but it was Adam. He overthought a lot of things.

After work, and suffering through several obnoxious customers, he came back to his phone to find several unread messages from Ronan.

 

**(2:51 pm)** where do you go to school?

**(5:15 pm)** chainsaw just started to learn to fly and it's been fun seeing her scare my roommates

**(5:17 pm)** [1 attachment]

 

It was a video of Chainsaw flying around his apartment, while his two roommates both ducked any time she flew past them. She was a small ball of black fluff at this point, and it was funny seeing two guys freaking out from her proximity.

He and Ronan barely knew each other, and yet already he seemed to know how to make his day. He was still thinking about it that night as he met up with Blue and Henry for dinner on campus. Blue didn't go to school with them, she went to Boston University just across the river, but she hung out more at Harvard than she did at her own school. When they asked about how the date went, he confessed not so great.

"Then why are you smiling?" Blue asked. She was suspicious, brow turned in as she was eating breakfast for dinner at the cafeteria. Her cereal was getting soggy as she pointed her spoon at him expectantly.

"Yeah, you don't smile for no reason, Adam," said Henry beside her. They sat together like two twins, or maybe the two sides of his conscience, except both were the shoulder devil of temptation. "What's your reason? Did you _really_ have a bad time with Izzy?"

"Ask her," Adam replied coolly. "She gave me a fake number at the end of it, it was that bad."

"No," Blue said with a gasp. She almost spit out her cereal and had to put a hand there to cover it.

"I didn't think she would be the type," Henry remarked. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Adam felt the need to get defensive, glaring over the rim of his water cup. "We just weren't compatible."

"Bullshit." Henry arched his brow. "We know you. You're picky."

Adam perfected a look of disinterest and shrugged. "Aren't I allowed to be picky about who I date?"

Both Henry and Blue rolled their eyes at the same time, like they practiced this. And then they went into the long list of Adam's lackluster love life, naming off all the dates he's had since he at least has known Blue, before college even, and all the excuses he had for why they didn't work.

"There just wasn't that spark," said Adam. He shrugged. "I don't see the point in wasting my time if I know it isn't going to work out."

"So why the smiling?" Henry prodded again.

"Oh." Adam didn't see a point in hiding it. It was more embarrassing that he got a false number than what came of it. "The person who I really texted instead of Izzy is.... nice."

Just that little statement sent his friends over the edge, exploding into a thousand questions and observations, most of which he tuned out by rolling his eyes.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

**(10:03 pm)** _i go to harvard_

 

**(10:05 pm)** jesus i thought you died

 

**(10:07 pm)** _and you didn't text saying my condolences? that's kind of rude_

 

**(10:08 pm)** don't know you well enough

**(10:08 pm)** besides you'd be dead

**(10:08 pm)** why would i text a dead guy. he can't read it

 

**(10:09 pm)** _okay this has gotten morbid_

 

**(10:10 pm)** harvard huh???? so you're pretentious as well as pretty

 

**(10:11 pm)** _aw you think I'm pretty_

 

**(10:12 pm)** i never said that

 

**(10:13 pm)** _you literally JUST said that_

 

**(10:14 pm)** i disagree

 

**(10:15 pm)** _[1 attachment]_

 

Ronan suppressed a laugh in the middle of watching a movie with Gansey and Noah, checking his phone from behind the pillow on his lap. He bit down hard on his lower lip to contain his amusement at the screenshot of his own text sent back at him, the word pretty circled a few times and the words _caught red handed_ written in a messy handwritten note at the top of the image. It only made him hate the five and a half hour distance more.

 

**(10:17 pm)** I meant petty

 

**(10:18 pm)** _wow ok sure_

**(10:18 pm)** _if you say so_

**(10:19 pm)** _I think you're petty too_

 

Ronan suppressed another laugh. He then felt a pillow smack him in the face and almost dropped his phone. Startled, he looked up, glaring to find the movie paused and his friends staring back.

"Dude, what the hell," said Noah.

"What?" Ronan looked between his two friends' varied expressions of annoyance and concern. "I'm literally just sitting here."

"You're missing the movie," Gansey remarked.

"Oh my god." Ronan rolled his eyes. "Fucking chill a bit, you losers. We've seen this one a million times."

"Stop flirting!"

And that's how he and Gansey ended up wrestling for his phone. Somehow through it all Noah got a hold of his phone and asked who Adam was, halting the wrestling long enough to force Ronan to explain himself.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Adam and Ronan stayed up again late a second night, and a third, and a fourth just talking. Their days were action packed, with school and work and friends, that it was nights they did most of their talking, occasionally a text here and there slipping in through their days. Adam learned Ronan went to Cornell, that he initially didn't want to go the college route at all but realized it could potentially benefit his farming if he went at least a year or so. So far it wasn't bad. It helped he was studying at the same school as his two best friends.

Adam told him about Henry and Blue, about how they were curious about him. Ronan teased about why they even cared, but later confessed his friends wondered about him as well. It left them in a strange place of trying to understand where this was headed, if this was headed anywhere at all. Five hours wasn't a huge distance, but enough it deterred them both from looking at this as anything more than a texting conversation going well. Neither wanted the other to know they were already gone. That this was something more and it only just started.

~~~~~~~~~~

On Ronan’s birthday, Gansey and Noah threw him a little party that consisted of just the three of them and video games. It was just like his birthday last year, which he didn’t mind in the least. It was nice to hang out with just them, to chill between school and socializing.

 

**(8:03 pm)** _happy birthday_

 

**(8:15 pm)** thanks. i didn’t think you would remember

 

**(8:17 pm)** _that would be shitty of me_

 

**(8:18 pm)** true, but i wasn’t going to say that

 

Suddenly this was vastly a better birthday than last year.

~~~~~~~~~~

They started talking at the beginning of October, and over a few weeks it quickly became Halloween. It felt natural to talk every day, mornings and good nights and everything in between. They made fun of strangers together, mocked their friends with each other, and were general shitheads that should've known better but chose not to anyway.

Halloween was tomorrow, and Adam completely forgot about it. He had no intention of doing anything anyway, as he didn't have a costume and midterms were right around the corner. Already he could hear the parties outside his dorm room, both out in the hall and outside on the lawn.

 

**(10:04 pm)** _you have any halloween plans?_

 

**(10:15 pm)** my friends are trying to drag me to a party

 

**(10:16 pm)** _sounds fun_

 

**(10:17 pm)** you don't know me at all, parrish. i hate parties

 

**(10:18 pm)** _then don't go_

 

**(10:20 pm)** i don't plan on going. i'd rather stay at home and watch horror movies instead

**(10:21 pm)** what about you

 

**(10:30 pm)** _studying_

 

**(10:33 pm)** is your nose glued to your textbooks or something

**(10:34 pm)** take a moment to enjoy your fucking youth dude

 

**(10:35 pm)** _says the boy who is watching horror movies alone at his apartment instead of going to a party_

 

**(10:36 pm)** at least I'm having fun 

 

**(10:41 pm)** _I enjoy studying_

 

**(10:43 pm)** that's terrible. I can't be seen with you

 

**(10:47 pm)** _good thing we're a state away then_

 

The reminder didn't sit well with Ronan. He preferred to not be reminded that they were far enough from each other that he was wasting half a day to drive to him. Which he almost did. Several times. But there was no point. They were friends. Friends that sometimes sent flirty texts. Selfies that made his heart flutter. Friends that might be a straight boy. He tried to ask him once about his sexual orientation, but thought better of it when he realized he wouldn't like it if someone were to ask. Especially someone new, like they still were.

 

**(10:51 pm)** _henry is trying to convince me to go out tomorrow. but I don't have a costume_

 

**(10:57 pm)** don't you have a job?

 

**(10:58 pm)** _yes so? I'm not wasting money on something I'll only wear once_

 

**(10:59 pm)** wear it again next year then

 

**(11:03 pm)** _are you trying to pressure me to go out?_

 

**(11:05 pm)** definitely not. goes against the ronan lynch agenda to go out to mainstream events. but what's your excuse

 

Adam didn't know how to tell him it went against his agenda too, and that even though he could afford it this year he didn't want to do Halloween. The time for it had passed for him, held bad memories from when he was younger. At this point he acknowledged it was a thing and left it alone. It tended to fall around midterms which made a good reason not to care. But Ronan wasn't holding back any punches. He pushed.

 

**(11:15 pm)** _I just don't care about halloween_

 

**(11:17 pm)** damn. I love halloween. I used to love trick or treating as a kid. I just hate dressing up now and getting drunk around assholes

 

**(11:19 pm)** _how nice for you_

 

**(11:31 pm)** tell me you at least have decorations up

 

**(11:41 pm)** _[1 attachment]_

 

Ronan knew Adam was upset about something, but didn't know how to handle it. They were still learning each other, and so he wouldn't ask why he didn't seem to be fond of Halloween. Instead he did stare in surprise a little at his phone when he saw little pumpkin lights adorning the edges of the ceiling around his dorm room, a carved pumpkin on a bureau, and a dozen or so skeleton decorations littered around the walls, with Adam mid-eye roll in the bottom corner of the picture.

 

**(11:42 pm)** _henry halloweenified our room_

 

**(11:43 pm)** the bastard

 

**(11:45 pm)** _he tried to decorate my side, but i drew the line at the lights_

 

**(11:47 pm)** do you study instead of have fun every year?

 

**(11:48 pm)** _i enjoy studying_

 

**(11:52 pm)** this year you're not studying

 

**(11:54 pm)** _oh. and what am i doing instead?_

 

**(11:57 pm)** you're watching horror movies with me

 

Adam felt heat in his chest, and an ache that felt right. He couldn't stop smiling at his phone, and officially gave up studying for the night. Lazily he moved to bed, his limbs carrying him as if they were a separate entity. His head was elsewhere, wondering what Ronan meant precisely by this.

 

**(12:07 am)** _do you have a private jet i'm unaware of_

 

**(12:10 am)** no, but there's this thing called video chat? we haven't tried it yet, which is strange considering i'm still suspicious you're really 75

 

**(12:13 am)** _i thought it was 65 now_

 

**(12:15 am)** whatever. we don't have to do it if you don't want to. i'll just continue on thinking i'm talking to an elderly man and you don't get the joy of hearing my jokes out loud

 

**(12:17 am)** _tempting, but...._

 

**(12:19 am)** what? afraid, parrish? it's not like I can come fucking flying out of your phone. though that would be a cool party trick

 

Ronan gnawed on his lip nervously. He didn't think this would be such a huge deal. Okay, actually he was fully aware it would be, but he hoped Adam would have agreed sooner than this. Instead he was taking his sweet time replying. He saw the three dots come and go several times, and worried that he fucked up. Maybe it was too soon. But nearly a month and they hadn't called or video chatted before. Was that really too soon? It wasn't a date. It was a way of feeling less lonely together.

 

**(12:34 am)** _what time?_

 

**(12:35 am)** dunno. eight?

 

**(12:37 am)** _Henry won't be out until at least 10_

 

**(12:38 am)** what, embarrassed to be seen talking to me?

 

**(12:41 am)** _maybe_

**(12:42 am)** _no, but i don't need more teasing than I already get_

 

**(12:45 am)** ten then

 

**(12:48 am)** _ok. what movies?_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It wasn't a date, but that didn't stop Adam from looking nice for it. He picked out a good shirt that he knew Ronan could only see the collar of, tried to tame his hair, and even cleaned off the clutter on his desk behind him knowing Ronan could see it, with the way he would have to angle to watch Henry's tv across the room. He was prepared, or at least he thought he was.

When the video chat ringing started coming through he almost shut his laptop in the surprise. He wasn't sure if he could do this. See Ronan in the semi-flesh. Hear his voice. See his smile. Know what he sounded like and looked like when he made his dumb jokes.

The ringing stopped, and then his phone vibrated.

 

**(10:03 pm)** are you out having fun without me

 

Adam nervously reached for his laptop and then found Ronan's number in the missed call list, the only number there, and rang it back. All his insecurities were coming back. His worries about Ronan thinking him boring. Not good enough. Not charming enough. Maybe his selfies were better than his real self.

But when Ronan answered on the second ring with a deep voiced _hello loser_ , Adam's insecurities all washed away at that smile. It was wild on his face, as his eyes raked over what little of Adam was visible on screen. His eyes were bright and hungry, the light bouncing off his computer screen in them as he ran a hand over his buzzed scalp. Adam sort of wished he could just jump through the screen and grab him, because he was real. He was really real. He knew he was before, because no one could be that ridiculous and annoying if they were a catfish, but this proved how real he was. Sitting there in a tank top with Chainsaw on his shoulder.

"You gonna talk or is this a peephole sort of situation?" Ronan jested, and the magic of it all diverted back to reality as he rolled his eyes at him just as Ronan started to laugh. His laugh was so much better than he imagined, like a warm drink on a cold night, filling his insides with that warm feeling.

"You're just as annoying in video form," Adam remarked, and Ronan could only laugh again. This was nice.

They stayed up late and watched two movies, not quite in sync but almost. After a while Adam muted his to hear Ronan's and his commentary, which there was a lot of. He could only imagine what it would be like to be next to him during this, to watch it together on a couch or in a bed. There came his fantasy of meeting Ronan, of touching him, of having him for himself in such selfish ways. It was terrifying how quickly they connected, how much he liked him, how worse it was going to be now that he was talking to him like this.

When they finished the second movie, Adam yawned and said goodnight. He had to definitely study tomorrow after work, since he didn't get any studying in today after freaking out the entire day about this.

"You didn't flinch as much as I thought you would," Ronan said.

"It's not real," said Adam, shrugging. "Just a crazy guy chasing a bunch of teenagers that should've known better than to break into someone else's house."

Ronan was smiling at him, looking impressed and simultaneously annoyed. "Don't trash it," he said. "It's a great movie."

"I wasn't, but there's a reason all of them died," Adam replied. "If they were smart about it and didn't break into the house, they wouldn't have died."

"Okay, smarty pants. If they didn't, there wouldn't have been a movie."

Adam shrugged and muttered to himself, "Maybe there shouldn't have been one."

"I heard that!"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They didn't make plans to video chat again for a while. Adam didn't say anything, and neither did Ronan, but it was obvious that it was a little weird. A good weird, but when he couldn't see Adam in person this felt like a poor second. Ronan wanted the ability to knock shoulders when Adam said something lame, to hear his laugh in person, see how his nose crinkled when he laughed in person, know what he smelled like, how tall he was.

They followed each other on instagram and friended each other on facebook, even though Ronan hardly used either. The second he made the mistake of telling Gansey and Noah about it they immediately went to find him and cyber stalk him.

"He could get it," Noah confessed.

"Thanks, Noah," Ronan replied drily. He wasn't entirely sure what _it_ was, but he suspected it was true. 

"He takes nice photos," Gansey mused, scrolling through his instagram while Noah took to facebook.

"Better than yours," Ronan said, almost proudly. Adam wasn't his to brag about, he reminded himself.

"Hey," Gansey said with a pout, but he didn't argue otherwise.

Adam looked to carefully pick through his photos, and Ronan scrolled all the way to the beginning when he posted his acceptance letter to Harvard, with the happiest smile he'd ever seen on anyone. He accidentally liked it and threw his phone across the room when it happened.

\----------------

It wasn't easy to admit how smitten Adam was, which was a word he would never use again to describe himself. But somehow he became this person who would sneak a look at his phone in class sometimes, who posted more on instagram than he used to because he knew at least one person was paying attention, and he wanted him to. He even updated his facebook profile picture after first making the account for networking purposes, with the intent of Ronan liking it. Ronan's friends both sent him friend requests, and in retaliation Blue and Henry sent requests to Ronan, to spy on him back. He rolled his eyes when Ronan asked who they were, and spent an hour trying to convince his friends to just leave it alone.

"Sorry," said Blue, but she didn't sound the least bit sorry. "But my best friend is dating someone he's never met, so I'm being Mom Friend."

"Does that make me Dad Friend?" Henry asked. Blue frowned at him for ruining the analogy.

"I'm not dating him," said Adam, doing his best to hide how disappointed he sounded when he said it out loud. They flirted constantly but nothing was coming of it. Speaking of the devil, he got a new text from Ronan, and he opened it with a light laugh escaping him as effortlessly as an exhale.

"Yeah, we totally believe you aren't dating," said Blue, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"How is the phone boyfriend today?" Henry asked, but Adam didn't answer. He didn't even look away from his phone.

Ronan sent a picture of Gansey looking horrified as Chainsaw was nestled on his hair like a crown.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They got each other through midterms and exams, Ronan incessantly pestering Adam and tricking him into taking breaks. Adam reminding Ronan that he should at least make an effort his first semester, and that this is what he wanted to do for a living, to remember that when he bothered studying.

It was two weeks into November, the air cold and biting, the need for more layers more dire, and the distance between them feeling wider and wider.

Adam felt ridiculous for missing someone he hadn't even met yet, but he missed him. Missed video chatting, even though there never seemed to be time for it. Neither had much privacy, and when they did they were still too busy to call. Texting was just easier, subtler, quieter.

Thanksgiving was a topic of choice, but not Adam's choice. He didn't want to talk about another holiday, one he didn't participate in and didn't like to be reminded of that fact. He didn't explain yet his background to Ronan, only that he came from Virginia dirt but had aspirations of big city gold. Ronan was from the D.C. area, which was a sign they were always close but not close enough. Maybe someday they could fix that.

He was laying in bed that night when he knew he should be studying. An hour break didn't hurt anyone, and he was talking to Ronan after a day of them both being too busy to text. Blue even noticed it, asking if his phone boyfriend and he were fighting because he looked down. He ignored her.

 

**(6:07 pm)** _so you have two brothers?_

 

**(6:08 pm)** yeah. i'm the middle child

 

**(6:10 pm)** _that explains so much_

 

**(6:12 pm)** fuck you, parrish

 

**(6:13 pm)** _:)_

 

**(6:14 pm)** do you have any siblings?

 

**(6:22 pm)** _no_

 

**(6:24 pm)** are you going home for thanksgiving?

 

**(6:40 pm)** _no_

**(6:40 pm)** _i don't talk to my parents_

 

**(6:43 pm)** that sucks

 

**(6:54 pm)** _i'm better off_

 

**(6:59 pm)** so you going to throw any wild parties while henry's out?

 

**(7:00 pm)** _HA_

 

**(7:03 pm)** why don't you go out more

 

**(7:05 pm)** _i could say the same about you_

 

**(7:06 pm)** i have a child

 

**(7:06 pm)** _chainsaw isn't a child. she's a bird_

 

**(7:07 pm)** i birthed her

 

**(7:07 pm)** _don't be gross_

 

**(7:11 pm)** the miracle of childbirth isn't gross, parrish. grow up

 

**(7:13 pm)** _[rolling eyes emoji]_

 

**(7:14 pm)** no but seriously.

**(7:14 pm)** i don't care about going out...

**(7:15 pm)** when i have more fun talking to you

**(7:15 pm)** i know. you're gagging. i am too

**(7:17 pm)** parrish? the fuck?

 

**(7:20 pm)** _you know you've obnoxiously become the highlight of my day_

 

**(7:23 pm)** i bet your girlfriend wouldn't like that

 

**(7:30 pm)** _girlfriend? we started talking because I got a fake number from a bad date. I don't have a girlfriend. or a boyfriend. i'm bi thank you very much_

 

**(7:41 pm)** nice to meet you, bi thank you very much

 

**(7:43 pm)** _you sure love dad jokes don't you_

 

**(7:49 pm)** well mine died so someone's gotta do them

 

**(7:55 pm)** _oh shit._

 

**(7:57 pm)** that's probably the most genuine reaction I've ever received from telling someone he died

 

**(8:00 pm)** _you're welcome?_

 

Ronan told Adam about his dad's accident, about taking care of his mom, how he was doing this school thing so that the farm could survive and he could help support his mom and little brother. Somehow he ended up opening himself to Adam more than that, talking about his depression from it all, that getting away from Virginia was helping with that.

\---------

Adam returned the favor of him confessing by telling him about his dad, in small, vague details. He hadn't even really told Henry yet, and Blue only knew because they were friends for ages. He told Ronan about his hearing, about his scars, about his dreams. And Ronan didn't turn away from them. He didn't stop texting him. He continued to make his dumb jokes, which half the time didn't make sense or make him laugh, and the other half he laughed but only because they were so terrible.

When it hit eleven, Adam realized he needed to get back to studying and he wished Ronan goodnight to do so. But Ronan still texted him an hour later to go to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In between classes, Adam was sitting at the Starbucks he worked at slowly sipping at a hot tea, hoping to be kept awake long enough to suffer the PowerPoint presentations his classmates would be presenting today in his gen-ed history class.

 

**(10:05 am)** how bored are you right now on a scale from 10-10

 

Ronan knew his schedule by now, which wasn't surprising since it supplied a schedule for their texting. Ronan openly texted him while in class, which he was doing right now, but knew that Adam often ignored him when he was in class, except for a few exceptions.

 

**(10:10 am)** _it's cold today. might snow._

 

**(10:13 am)** sucks to be you right now

 

**(10:15 am)** _you're telling me it's not cold there too?_

 

**(10:17 am)** it's cold yeah. just sucks to be cold in cambridge

 

**(10:18 am)** _[rolling eyes emoji]_

 

He could imagine Ronan laughing, a laugh he heard only a few times that one night, but enough it was embedded in his brain forever. He so badly wanted to hear it again.

 

**(10:20 am)** _so were you fishing for something when you brought up a girlfriend last night or am I reading into that too much_

 

**(10:24 am)** you're reading into it. I don't care about your love life

 

**(10:30 am)** _that's too bad._

**(10:30 am)** _I sort of want you to care_

**(10:31 am)** _I like you, ronan_

 

The texts hit Ronan like a slap in the face or a splash of cold water or walking into a glass door. He was gobsmacked. That Adam would just casually mention all this on a Tuesday morning while he was in the middle of a math class. 

 

**(10:37 am)** oh. cool.

 

**(10:38 am)** _is that it?_

 

**(10:40 am)** yeah. cool

 

Adam angrily started typing out on his way to class. He bumped shoulders with strangers and almost slipped on the ice that covered parts of the sidewalk. But he managed. His frustration held him up, as he fervently wrote back with pink, numbed fingers.

 

**(10:41 am)** _the fuck, lynch. you aren't going to say it back?_

**(10:42 am)** _there's a time for being your dumbass self and a time to be serious_

**(10:43 am)** _i haven't been texting you solely for the conversation._

 

**(10:45 am)** i like you too, asshole. i thought it was obvious

 

Relief washed over him, but it still didn't take over his annoyance. Why did Ronan not say it back so easily? Why did he make him have to drag it out?

 

**(10:47 am)** _it was obvious, but i like to have confirmation_

 

**(10:50 am)** fine. now you have it

 

**(10:51 am)** _great_

 

**(10:53 am)** still doesn't change the fact we're five and a half hours away from each other

 

Neither party liked this reminder. For Adam it was painful, for Ronan it was gut wrenching. To like someone you've never met, but connected with more than any other person. To know it was nearly impossible to see each other. Five hours was like a world away.

 

**(10:55 am)** _no, but now it's out in the open_

 

**(10:57 am)** well what good does that fucking do?

 

**(11:00 am)** _for once be positive_

 

**(11:03 am)** I am a positive fucking person

 

**(11:05 am)** _sure_

 

Adam took a deep breath, situated in class in the back row, ignoring his classmates as the professor was running late. One of his friends from his major waved at him, and he waved back, but he was more focused on this right now. This something more.

 

**(11:09 am)** _i miss you. is that weird? to miss someone you've never met?_

 

**(11:11 am)** yeah it's weird

 

**(11:12 am)** _thanks so much, lynch_

 

**(11:13 am)** you asked

 

**(11:14 am)** _my mistake_

 

**(11:14 am)** it's weird, but doesn't mean it's a bad weird

**(11:15 am)** i miss you, too.

**(11:15 am)** it feels like we've known each other ages. and that this long distance crap is temporary

 

**(11:17 am)** _if only..._

 

**(11:19 am)** shit. aren't you in class right now? stop texting me and pay attention to class, nerd

 

**(11:20 am)** _you're one to talk_

 

Adam pocketed his phone during the middle of someone's presentation on the economic impact of World War I, smiling so wide his friend asked if he was high.

"Sort of," he said.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

During Thanksgiving Blue video called Adam and Henry as a three-way celebration together, Henry home in Canada and Blue back in Virginia, while Adam treated himself to a pre made meal from Marie Callender's. He missed them a lot, but it was nice being on campus during a holiday. Most of the students were gone, the dorms were quiet. He could get reading in, have long and languished walks through the quad without running into anyone for at least twenty minutes. It was quiet and cold and idyllic.

He talked to Ronan as much as he could, they even video called for a little bit until his younger brother's face blocked his view, asking upside down who was on the call.

"No one, Matthew!" Ronan tried to swat his brother out of frame. "Mind your own business!"

"It's a boy! Oh my god, Mom! Ronan's talking to a boy!"

"No, shut up!" Ronan exclaimed.

"Is that new? Doesn't he usually talk to boys?"

"No, like a _boy_ boy."

Even behind Matthew's crop of messy curls, Adam could make out Ronan's reddening neck and cheeks. He laughed, carefree and bewildered by the family affair of their call.

"What's happening?" another voice called out. It was male, too, which meant it was probably Declan.

"Oh my god. Get out of my room! All of you!" Ronan finally managed to shove Matthew out of the way. His expression was unfriendly as he glared at the screen, a glimmer of anguish in his eyes as his brothers kept talking.

"I'll text you," he said.

"Okay." Adam couldn't stop laughing, even long after Ronan shut his laptop on him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

**_magician.94_ ** _posted a photo_

 

**_greywaren_ ** _liked your photo_

 

**_greywaren_** _commented on your photo:_ does the library have anything left in the stacks?

 

**_magician.94_** _mentioned you in a commented_ : @ **greywaren** no, actually. I checked out the entire library

 

It was a photo of all of Adam's textbooks from this semester taken in an aesthetically pleasing centered photo with the caption _my friends until finals are over_. Of course Ronan was unabashedly the first to like the picture, first to comment. Meanwhile Ronan hadn't posted a picture since July. He wasn't very subtle with his cyber stalking.

\------

"Dude. Never be the first to like a photo. Gotta wait at least an hour for that shit."

For the first time in fifteen minutes Ronan looked up from his phone to find Noah staring back at him across the living room. "What, there are rules to this bullshit?" He rolled his eyes. "I saw it now, so I liked it."

Gansey came around the sofa to sit beside him, same time as Noah coming to sit at his other side in the chair.

"No no no no no." Gansey shook his head. "Big mistake."

Gansey's love life was about as exciting as his, so he was one to talk. He gave his old friend a look that signified he didn't give a shit about his opinion as he turned his attention to the private messages on his phone, where Adam started a conversation sparked from the one on his photo, about how much of a nerd he was for studying early. Their text conversation was still about a random wild parrot Adam saw on campus and Ronan trying to convince him to catch it and keep it as a pet. It was new to have two different conversations at the same time with him.

"Earth to Ronan."

Again, he looked up to find his two friends still staring back at him. "What? Take a picture, it'll last longer."

They exchanged a look between themselves, speaking in silent expressions before turning back to him.

"Are you two official?"

Ronan scrunched up his face. "That's none of your fucking business." And he got up and went straight to his room, Chainsaw flying in after him a few seconds later.

\-----------

"Phone boyfriend comments on every photo, I can't believe this."

Adam groaned, retrieving his pile of books off the table at the library he and Blue were studying at. Blue helped after he dropped a couple from his arms, ignoring his protests to hand them back.

"Please stop calling him that," he requested. "He's not my boyfriend, phone or otherwise."

"He acts like a boyfriend," she said. "He comments, likes, and you said he even sends you cute dog instagrams?"

He regretted telling her anything, and she knew it, smirking wide when he blushed a little instead of answered. In the last couple weeks Ronan indeed started sending or tagging Adam in random pictures of dogs from instagram, after he learned Adam's obsession with having an entire army's worth of them someday. It became a special thing between them, making Adam feel known and thought of whenever he received a new link. He cherished every single picture twice as much as he usually would.

"If he hurts you, I'm going to Cornell and kicking his ass," Blue mused. She was shushed by several other students and mockingly shushed them back.

"You're not even reading anything useful," she replied to one of them who was reading a sports magazine. "Pick up an actual book, and then you can shush me."

"Blue," Adam said, half appalled and half laughing into his stack of books in his arms. "I have to go to school here. Can you not?"

"Oh, they're fine." She waved them off as they walked toward the exit, snickering together like the two delinquents they were.

Outside it was raining, and Blue was quick to open up her umbrella, both ducking down under it, huddled together like one body mass. They rushed through the quad, making their way across campus back to his dorm room.

"You're getting serious, aren't you?" she asked, talking over the pitter patter of rain on the umbrella roof.

He chewed his lip a little and gave in to a small shrug. "I think so," he said. "We haven't talked about it much."

"Because you're terrible at that shit," she said. He frowned at her, and she bumped shoulders intentionally. "So am I, remember? No judgments. Just facts. You should talk to him about it, you know, before this goes on too long. Before you know it it's break, and Henry's going back home to Canada for the holidays, so you're going to have-"

"Don't." As a few books were slipping in his arms and they staggered to a stop, he shut his eyes a second to keep himself from thinking more on what she was suggesting. "Don't finish that sentence."

Blue's smile waned. "Dude, aren't you guys planning to meet at some point?"

Adam shrugged a little.

Blue rolled her eyes. "God, you two are so stupid! How hard is it to talk about that shit?"

Hard, apparently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That same night, Adam was mulling over his conversation with Blue while figuring out his study schedule for the remainder of the week. Last he talked to Ronan was an hour ago, Ronan still trying to convince him to find the parrot he saw a couple days ago and raise it like he was raising Chainsaw. He couldn't tell how much of it was a joke at this point.

He sighed as he looked at the latest photo Ronan sent of himself to Adam, of Ronan smiling with Chainsaw on his head, staring up at her with such a happy expression.

\------------------

Because he didn't want to get asked more questions about Adam, Ronan reluctantly agreed to go out with his friends to some party. Gansey was invited and dragged Noah and him along. It wasn't completely terrible, but the longer he interacted with these strangers, the more he wished Adam could be at things like this with him, sitting in the corner mocking people together. Instead he had Noah, who got tired of the mocking when he saw someone he thought was hot and left to talk to them. 

 

**(10:03 pm)** send me nudes, parrish. this party is dull

 

**(10:05 pm)** _that's the most romantic thing you've ever said, lynch_

**(10:05 pm)** _and no. use your imagination_

 

**(10:07 pm)** can't very well do that in the middle of a party

 

**(10:08 pm)** _you've done worse things_

 

**(10:09 pm)** are you studying? is that why you're in a mood

 

**(10:10 pm)** _i'm not in a mood_

**(10:10 pm)** _and no i am not. sometimes i do other things_

 

**(10:11 pm)** like what

 

At that, Adam didn't reply too quickly. After roughly ten minutes not even Adam could offer solace to Ronan's lonely, irritated mind. He peeled away from the wall he lingered at and he moved through the crowd out out to the back where all the alcohol was. Feeling generous, he poured himself a whole cup of whatever was in the punch bowl and stepped back inside.

He dumped himself on an empty sofa cushion next to a vigorous straight couple making out. Ronan regretted it immediately but he couldn't be bothered to move. Instead, he drank.

What felt like a century later, Ronan's phone lit up as he was halfway down his cup. Everything was a little fuzzy already, his tolerance having lowered since he started college, learning it wasn't as easy to get alcohol here as it was back in Henrietta. People checked IDs here rather than allowed his scowl to make the purchase. 

 

**(10:33 pm)** _i'm ignoring your snark. and i'm gonna ask you a question._

 

Ronan set his cup down at the text. It sounded ominous

 

**(10:34 pm)** _i know this long distance thing sucks, but do you want to go out?_

 

It was a good thing Ronan put his cup down first, otherwise he would've choked on his drink.

 

**(10:35 pm)** on a date? we're not in the same city, parrish

**(10:35 pm)** unless there's something you're not telling me

 

**(10:37 pm)** _no, I'm still at harvard. but my friend recently had me watch this movie, her_

 

**(10:38 pm)** the one where he fucks his phone?

 

**(10:42 pm)** _eloquent as ever, lynch. yes i guess that's one way to describe it. but they went on a date where he took his phone everywhere and showed her around. i could do the same for you. we could video chat again_

 

**(10:44 pm)** you're serious?

 

**(10:45 pm)** _as a heart attack_

**(10:45 pm)** _i want to go on a date with you_

 

**(10:47 pm)** how would we do this exactly?

 

**(10:49 pm)** _i was thinking we find similar places around us and act like we're together_

**(10:51 pm)** _so we go to a similar restaurant, we go to the same movie maybe, go somewhere else after that's the same._

**(10:51** **pm)** _what_ _do you think?_

 

**(10:53 pm)** you've been thinking a lot about this haven't you?

 

**(10:54 pm)** _like I said, I like you. don't make a big deal out of it._

 

**(10:56 pm)** kind of hard not to

 

He dumped the rest of his drink into a plant by the sofa as his hands became clammy, thinking of what all of this meant. To think Adam wanted a date. With _him_.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

On the eve of their date, Adam was out shopping with Blue. For once he had extra funds to splurge on himself, and he was in need of a nice outfit for internship interviews in the summer. This could benefit longterm, in more ways than one.

"You're nervous," Blue observed. "It's not like it's a real date."

Adam glared at her across the rack of dress shirt, but she wasn't looking. She had a lollipop half gone, trying to get to the chewy center, and Adam waited until she was paying attention to him again. When she focused, he glared again, and she groaned, pulling her lollipop out.

"Sorry," she said. "Why are you so nervous, though?"

Her arched brow brought about the truth. The only reason he succumbed was she was his oldest and best friend.

"I've fucked up on all my old dates," Adam confessed. "I destroyed them. I don't want to destroy this one."

Hearing him explain, Blue must have sympathized, as she grabbed his hand over the rack of clothes and held it there, wrists against the metal hangers. Her lollipop was clanging around in her mouth, banging against the backs of teeth. He almost wanted to throw it away, it was distracting. But she pulled it out before she talked.

"You won't fuck up," she said. "This is Ronan. And you like Ronan."

"Since when did you start eating lollipops?" he commented. She frowned.

"Not the topic at hand, Adam," she said, and she wagged it at him like a finger. "We're talking about boys not candy, although some can argue they're the same."

Like charming a snake, Blue's little jest unclenched the thing that wrapped around inside his guts and squeezed, making him just slightly less nervous about the date than he was before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In many respects, Ronan was panicking about the date just subtly. To avoid another catastrophic conversation, he didn't tell Gansey or Noah, and didn't plan to until the date was over. All their advice was shit. He was locked up in his room, researching things beforehand which he didn't often do. He was sort of a _do it in the moment_ type of guy, but this was by all means his first real date with Adam. His first real date at all. Even with all the miles in between them he wanted it to be special. He wanted Adam to ask for another one.

On the night of the date Adam requested a video chat around eight. Seeing him live in video form was a lot, his hair was tamed and he was wearing a nice collared shirt. He was already smiling before they even said anything.

Ronan got some looks from Gansey and Noah when he left, wearing an actual shirt for once and a tie.

"You going to a funeral or something?" Noah said, looking up from his book.

Gansey pulled down his glasses and squinted like he was trying to figure out if he was seeing correctly, then he put his glasses back on and squinted more.

"Who's that?"

"Fuck you guys," he said, before walking out.

"You going on a date or something?" Gansey asked.

"With what?" Noah replied. "He's dating a phone."

Ronan gave them both the middle finger on his way out the door.

"You clean up nice," Adam said, enough of a statement it made Ronan blush. He was thankful it was dark on his walk, and that he brought headphones to keep his conversation with Adam private. No one else around him deserved to hear his little southern drawl that sometimes slipped out like an accident, or the way he laughed and its variety depending on how funny he found something. These things were just for him.

It was freezing as he walked, Ronan having mapped out which restaurant to go to already. They chose Italian two nights ago, and since then Ronan furiously researched. Somewhere not fancy but not garbage either. Somewhere maybe he could actually bring Adam if he ever visited.

After requesting a table for one, Ronan fumbled with his phone nervously, setting it down against the fake candle at the center of the table. He still had his headphones in, and ignored looks he received from the older couple one table over. Nosy bastards.

They both went quiet as they each started looking over the menus at their restaurants. Adam had propped his phone up against something too, as he held the menu in a way that didn't block his face. He was deep in concentration, which was cute in a way that made Ronan want to gag. Some of his hair slipped out from its brushed position, messing up at the space before his eyes. He tried to push it back, but only made it messier. Ronan preferred his hair that way anyway, messy. It looked soft in the low lighting of Adam's restaurant choice, and he could hear live music in the background, whereas Ronan's had Italian music gently playing over the speaker system. It seemed Adam picked somewhere sort of nice, too.

They were dumbasses, he thought, to try and impress the other when they weren't even physically there to enjoy it.

"Did you- Oh wait." Adam set down his menu and started to laugh into his hands. He knocked out one headphone from his ear, also thinking ahead same as Ronan and keeping their conversation half-private from their surroundings. The skin around Adam's eyes crinkled as he laughed, as his hands came and covered his face nose down. After a while he tilted his head back, and Ronan got a proper view of his throat, bobbing as he released a last few good chuckles and then swallowed, breathing.

"What's so fucking funny?" Ronan's voice had an edge, both from trying to combat his nerves and because he hated not being in on a joke. If there even was a joke here.

Adam looked back down at him again, ignoring the ear bud that fell from his ear, which Ronan realized only now was unnecessary. He smiled down at Ronan through the screen, and then shook his head like he was embarrassed. Fingering the chunks of hair that fell into his eyes, he sighed, staring off somewhere else.

"I almost asked if you wanted to split an appetizer," he said, and he snorted again. This one felt more forced, like he was combatting sadness on his end same as Ronan on his own. His eyes lost a little of their spark as he looked down again at the menu.

"So you _don't_ want to share an appetizer over 300 miles away?" Ronan replied. "That's just rude. Hogging the food all to yourself."

Adam gave him a withered glance, before it warmed into something slightly gentler as his lips quirked out a thin smile.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring Chainsaw out with you," Adam mused, not looking up from his menu. He knew Ronan sometimes brought her to class and scowled at anyone who suggested he didn't. She minded her business better than half his classmates did.

"They say don't bring your kids on the first date," said Ronan, and he shrugged. Adam's smile melted more openly again at his joke.

\----------

Adam's restaurant offered free breadsticks and Ronan's offered a loaf of bread. Adam was serenaded by the singer of the live band performing where he was at, while Ronan had to watch through the phone.

He sunk down in his seat as the singer wouldn't relent, and then awkwardly applauded with the rest of the restaurant crowd when they finished, ignoring them again when he heard Ronan start to laugh into his ear.

"Oh shut up," he hissed at him. "You have competition now."

Ronan smirked, taking the joke in stride. One of his hands came at his tie, pulling on it a little.

"You look good with a tie," Adam said, without realizing he said it out loud until Ronan responded with a brow raise. He rolled his eyes at Ronan. "Yes, I complimented you. Don't let it get to your head."

"Too late."

Adam ordered chicken parmesan, and Ronan ordered the classic spaghetti with meatballs.  As they waited for their food, Adam's hands began to sweat. He was fidgeting with the cloth napkin in his lap, picking at a loose thread in the corner of it. This place was nice, a place like where he used to dream of going as a kid, even while in high school. Having a full ride to Harvard made some things a little more affordable, allowing him to treat himself on the occasion. He was almost finished with his first semester at college, and now he had a boyfriend.

"What's on your mind, Parrish?" Ronan asked directly into his ear. It was better that he brought headphones, made the whole thing less of a spectacle. Adam was here alone, and yet he wasn't. He wished he could reach over the table for Ronan's hand, look into his eyes without a screen between them, and kiss him if he wanted.

"Nothing," he lied. "Finals."

Ronan clucked his tongue. "Yeah, I figured," he said. "I was surprised you wanted the date to be before finals and not after."

Adam looked at him in his phone's screen, and then he shrugged, relaxing again with their eyes locked. "You're always telling me to take a break from studying." He smiled into the camera. "This seemed a good enough reason."

Somehow that made Ronan speechless, who sat there staring back at him with a yearning visible in his gaze that Adam felt matched inside himself. This was unbearable and great at the same time, and he ached for more but was content for now with this.

Eventually their food arrived. Ronan's arrived first, and he waited the few minutes for when Adam's came out. They spent a while eating quietly, chiding the other for when there was something on their chins.

When their eating died down, Adam almost finished while Ronan was left picking at what he had left on his plate, Adam caught him staring at him when he looked back at the phone for the first time in a couple minutes. Discovered, Ronan blushed and looked down, his fork flying off the table and onto the floor. It became a whole thing, with a server dropping in and asking if he was okay, if he wanted a new fork, and him scrambling for answers in his gruff, curt way of speaking. As it was happening Adam couldn't help but laugh, sparking Ronan to shoot daggered looks his way, all the while trying to explain he was fine and was finished eating anyway.

"You suck, Parrish," Ronan said, as his server finally relented and left. He sat back in his chair and pushed his plate away, almost knocking his phone into the leftovers while he was at it. It only made Adam laugh again. Something about that made Ronan close his eyes, but he didn't look angry about it. When he closed them, he looked to be thinking of something pleasant.

"I like your laugh," he confessed. He opened his eyes again and Adam could see want in them. He did that, just by laughing. He almost laughed again, at how absurd life was to privilege him with this. "I wish I heard it more often."

"I mean..." Adam didn't know what to say.

Ronan swallowed and inclined further toward his phone. "Why haven't we been video chatting this whole time?" he said, suddenly serious.

Adam settled in close to his phone, too.

"I think it's harder," he said, eyes casting down to what little was left on his plate. "Seeing you. Not having you here." It wasn't enough, and he closed his eyes, ignorant of everything around him, only acknowledging the sounds of Ronan's restaurant through his ear. "After the first time it was crap having to say goodbye. Wasn't it hard for you?"

"Yes," Ronan replied.

Finally Adam looked at him again, and he dragged his chair even closer into the table, until there was no space between his stomach and the table cloth.

"You aren't seeing anyone else are you?" he asked. They hadn't yet specified what they were yet, even though Adam considered them boyfriends, but he didn't want to just assume.

"I mean, I'm in a restaurant," Ronan remarked. His attention averted to his surroundings. "Kind of see a lot of people here."

"You know what I mean, asshole," Adam replied, tilting his head disappointedly at him, waiting to accept a better answer.

Ronan's lips twitched into a childish grin, playful but dangerous with its intent.

"No, I'm not sure that I do," he said. "You're going to have to explain to me."

His games were terrible, but Adam willingly played along, rolling his eyes at him irritably.

"Are you dating anyone else?" he said, less pleasant than the first time he asked.

Ronan's grin dissolved into something gentler, safer, as he picked up his phone to hold it closer.

"You're it, science guy," he said.

Adam breathed with relief, even though it was exactly what he suspected. He just had to be sure.

"You're it too," he said.

"I've..." Ronan started blushing before he even talked. "...never been on a date before," he confessed.

Adam had never been on a successful one, and he was so glad this wasn't going terribly like he initially thought it would. He wanted it to go well. He wanted more than just this.

"Well, when we inevitably see each other, because _it's going to happen_ , we can go on a bunch of them," he declared with a grin, feeling proud to confess such a thing.

"Don't be cheesy," Ronan said.

"It's not cheesy," Adam argued. "It's fact."

Ronan just stared at him through the phone and smiled.

"Fuck." Ronan shook his head and ran his hands both over his scalp, one after the other. "You're not even here and you're making me so fucking nervous."

Together they laughed off the comment, even though Adam wished he were here, and could see it reflected in Ronan's expression he wanted the same.

After dinner, they skipped dessert to go take a walk in the park, one near each of them, Ronan's a little further than Adam's. They sprawled out on the grass in their respective park and talked to each other in the dark of the trees, cold grass bristling the backs of necks and the air biting at their cheeks.

They skipped the movie, realizing it couldn't be like their Halloween video call, where they could communicate while the film was going on. Instead they opted for finding an arcade near each of them, Ronan's suggestion. He had one near his apartment apparently, and waited until Adam found one near him to go to. They played games well into the night, laughing and being idiots and enjoying the competition on who could kill more zombies or eat more dots in pacman.

In the end, Adam won tickets for a prize and spent it on some stuffed bear that wore sunglasses and said cheesy phrases when the hand was squished. He didn't tell Ronan that he intended to give it to him when they eventually met up, because it was going to happen. It had to, at this point.

After, they each walked home, not far from their respective places. They talked the whole way home, about nothing and everything. Ronan made fun of the little bear tucked under Adam's arm, and Adam made fun of Ronan's poor farming skills in a farming game at his arcade, since that's what he wants to do for a living.

"It's a video game!" Ronan argued. "It's not the same! I wouldn't go through cows that fast in real life. It's fucking unrealistic."

Adam's laugh echoed down the empty pathway that led back to his dormroom. The cold no longer pulled at his skin or rattled his teeth. He was numb to it by the heat of his belly from his laughter, the aches of which did not go unnoticed. This was what happiness felt like. He was happy when he got valedictorian at school, and happy when he got accepted to Harvard, but this was different. He never really thought he would get this. Now that he had it, he didn't want to let it go.

"This is me," he said quiet outside his front door. Henry was asleep inside and he didn't want to disturb him.

"You know this isn't a physical date," Ronan muttered, standing outside his own apartment building. He could hear a siren distantly passing where Ronan was as they stood there, Ronan encompassed by darkness while Adam was illuminated by the fluorescents of his building. "You don't have to end the call here."

"Makes it more official, I think," Adam said, playing along as if this _were_ real. He wasn't sure if it was harder or easier, but it made it feel more like a date. "Next time you can come inside."

"You're taking this way too seriously," Ronan replied, making another smartass comment. Adam ignored it like he often did.

"If you were here I'd kiss you," he said. He was serious, and Ronan recognized that sincerity, staring back at him with a flustered expression.

"Why would you tell me that?" he said, sounding mildly upset by it.

"Because it's true." Adam gave a tiny wave to his phone. "Goodnight, Lynch."

He moved to end the call, but saw Ronan stare back in panic.

"Wait, Parrish," he pleaded.

"Yeah?"

With caution, Ronan looked around him as if he were about to do something illegal or suspicious. Adam shook his head free of ludicrous thoughts and instead waited and watched as Ronan then moved into his phone and looked to kiss it. Against his instinct, he started to chuckle, and he forced a hand over his mouth to smother the sound.

"Oh screw you, Parrish," he groaned, and Adam smiled brightly back at him, enjoying their banter for goodnight. It was clear neither wanted this call to end, but Adam's phone was on the verge of dying anyway. 

"Maybe next time," he told him.

Something dark colored Ronan's eyes as he stared back into the camera, and Adam smiled mischievously at stirring the reaction.  Ronan's breathing seemed to catch, mouth falling open just a crack. He then swallowed, skin buzzing with color, as he dropped his gaze. His ears were hot pink when he reached and pulled at one, likely trying to tame its treachery.

"I gotta go, um, somewhere," he said, voice fracturing on every word. He turned from his phone but didn't end the call.

Adam chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip, still standing outside his room with his keys in his hand. People passed him, but he paid them no mind. Ronan was all he cared about.

"Goodnight, Ronan," he said, and using his first name stirred Ronan to finally look up again. His eyes were wider, more open in their expression. He swallowed again.

"Yeah, night," Ronan said, quieter than he'd spoken all night. Softer.

"We should do this more often," Adam suggested. "Video chatting. I prefer it."

"Doesn't make you hate those 328.6 miles between us?" Ronan asked.

Adam's smile widened into a full blown grin. "You counted?"

Ronan rolled his eyes and grunted.

"Of course I fucking counted," he said. "The second you told me you went to Harvard. I hate each and every mile that gets to be closer to you."

That didn't make a lick of sense, but Adam smiled at it anyway.

"I hate them too," he agreed. He was envious of everyone who got to see Ronan every day, not knowing how lucky they were. He felt very lucky to know him at all.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Despite their mutual desire to video chat more, finals made it nearly impossible. It was even difficult to text, but Ronan carved in time in his relentless and obnoxious studying to text Adam, making him take small breaks at least once an hour for a few minutes. He needed it, knowing that boy was probably bent over a desk in poor lighting with a thousand things trying to sit in his head while he tried to remember a thousand more.

Halfway through the week of finals he was hanging out with Gansey and Noah, while they were talking about exes, trying to poach information about Adam from him. Something in the conversation actually proved useful, and when Ronan went back into his room to "study" he opened a textbook and then took out his phone, messaging Adam before trying to focus on math.

 

**(8:31 pm)** you know, i realize i know who izzy is

 

**(8:34 pm)** _really?_

 

Ronan tried not to feel too smug about getting Adam to text him back relatively fast in the middle of a study session.

 

**(8:39 pm)** yeah, there was an isabella my friend gansey briefly dated back in high school. hated me.

**(8:40 pm)** by brief I mean less than a month and then she was like it's either him or me and gansey of course made the right choice

 

**(8:44 pm)** _wow, so how did you guys start talking again?_

 

**(8:45 pm)** hey! asshole

 

He could just picture Adam laughing.

 

**(9:40 pm)** _you should thank her_

 

**(9:44 pm)** for what

 

**(9:47 pm)** _for this, dumbass_

 

**(9:49 pm)** for texting? is your brain that fried from studying

 

**(10:00 pm)** _no, but yours clearly is. your jokes are worse than ever_

 

**(10:04 pm)** my jokes are always hilarious

**(10:06 pm)** besides, might not even be the same isabella

 

**(10:08 pm)** _tall. pretty. brown hair. nose piercing. sounds like janice from friends?_

 

**(10:10 pm)** okay it may be the same isabella

 

**(11:13 pm)** _you should write her a thank you card_

 

**(11:15 pm)** what am i, an old woman?

 

**(11:19 pm)** _you act like one sometimes_

 

**(11:30 pm)** what's that even mean parrish

 

**(11:31 pm)** _:)_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After finals came holiday break. Adam celebrated the end with Henry and Blue, clinking coffee mugs full of hot chocolate together in Harvard's cafeteria their final night. They stayed out late celebrating, even going to a party held in Adam and Henry's dorm building. He officially completed one whole semester of college, and he was pretty sure he was getting an A in everything unless he fucked up on his essay in English. But he doubted it.

He celebrated with Ronan the next day by finally getting another video call in, seeing his glorious sleep deprived face, as he and his friends had a more alcohol infused night to celebrate their finals. He teased him for texting him drunk last night, his messages forever saved in his phone for future reference.

 

**(1:03 am)** i like your face

 

**(1:09 am)** i wanna kisssss every freckle on ur fscd

 

**(1:13 am)** mmm adam i like you

 

**(1:18 am)** imighf lobe u

 

Adam couldn't tell what the last one meant, but it didn't matter. Just referencing them made Ronan duck his face behind a pillow and mumble in muffled words how much Adam sucked.

"Yeah you mentioned something about sucking last night, too," he teased.

Ronan yelled into his pillow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue stayed with Adam in his and Henry's dorm room over break, at least until Christmas she said. She claimed she couldn't afford the drive back, which while it was likely true in some part, it wasn't the whole reason. He appreciated her staying anyway, grateful even. They bought a desk sized Christmas tree and vowed not to get each other anything, which neither of them broke.

On Christmas morning it was snowing, and so of course they went outside and had a snowball fight, not really keeping track of who was winning or losing but enjoying just the act of it.

That night, Adam video called Ronan while Blue was showering off the snow, even though he knew he was back home visiting family for break and was more than just five hours away now. He answered on the third ring, breathing hard and leaning back against a headboard, which meant he probably ran to his room to talk privately.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey," said Adam. He kept his eyes on the bathroom door for when Blue would eventually come out.

"What is it?" Ronan's brow furrowed.

"I think it's time we meet," Adam said. He thought about it since break started, wondered why Ronan hadn't suggested it, and then decided that if he wasn't going to say anything about it Adam would.

"What?" Ronan was completely taken by surprise by the thought. Not overanalyzing if it were a good or bad reaction, Adam powered through what he practiced to say.

"Distance can be nothing now that we're on break," he said. "I have the time. You do, too. I want this."

Ronan sat up, moving his end of the phone call around a lot, it almost made Adam dizzy. After a while he settled, still staring back bewildered.

"You don't think it's too soon?" he said. He sounded almost afraid. Adam wasn't.

"It's almost January and we've been texting since October," he reasoned. "No, I don't think it's too soon. I want to meet you."

He waited, watching, as Ronan slowly absorbed his words. Over a minute he went from bewildered and concerned to ecstatic and determined, nodding in agreement with a grin pulling at his lips.

"I want to meet you, too," he said.

Adam braved a smile in return, offering it to him as a way of showing his gratitude for everything these past couple months. "Then come drive to me," he insisted.

"It was your fucking idea." Ronan's brow dipped in challenge. "Why don't you drive to me?"

"I don't have a car." Adam rolled his eyes at him as he sat there. The shower was turned off sometime ago, and any moment Blue would come pouncing out here and demand to meet Ronan. He didn't want her to just yet.

"Shit." Ronan ran a hand over his mouth. "Right. Well, they say hitchhiking can be fun."

Adam knew he was asking a lot of Ronan, but he didn't need to be a little shit about it.

"Lynch, I want to tell you I like you in person," he said, agitated and annoyed. "I'd rather not get murdered by a truck driver before that happens."

"I was kidding," Ronan said, snickering at him like his joke was funny or obvious. Adam gave him an empty look, void of amusement or interest. As if he were there in person, Ronan poked at his screen like he were poking at some part of Adam's face. A soft chill ran down Adam's spine at the thought of him being able to do that soon. "I'll come to you. I've wanted this, but I wasn't sure if you were ready."

Adam cleared his throat, leaning into his phone. "I'm ready," he said. He heard the door to the bathroom start to open and he jerked. "Gotta go."

"Bye-"

Blue walked out in pajamas with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. She smiled at Adam as he tried to subtly hold his phone as if he weren't just making life plans with Ronan.

"Boy, I thought he'd never agree," she said.

Adam sat up, realizing what she meant.

"You could hear me?"

"Duh," and Blue rolled her eyes. "These are thin as shit walls, Adam. You know for an Ivy League they sure aren't very Ivy League about the dorms." She sat on Henry's bed and folded her legs under her, staring across the room at Adam on his bed. "When am I meeting him?"

He scoffed. "Never," he said.

Blue smiled back at him, knowing full well she was going to be the first person he'd introduce Ronan to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Via text, they decided to meet on the 29th. It would be after the holidays and Ronan could fly in, and Adam didn't mind meeting him at the airport.

Blue admitted her hesitance for this, but was glad she was here in case he "turned out to be a perverted old man."

"I know for a fact he isn't," Adam argued.

"You said he's bald right?"

"He has a buzzcut," Adam corrected.

"He could be a young looking old man who's _pretending_ it's a buzzcut."

Adam rolled his eyes, struggling not to laugh.

The day before they were to meet he got a text from Ronan that changed everything, and made him instantly sit down on his bed when he read it.

 

**(1:03 pm)** change of plans

 

**(1:04 pm)** _you're not coming?_

 

**(1:08 pm)** i'll be driving in

 

Adam lay flat on his back as the wind was knocked back into him. For a moment there he worried he changed his mind.

 

**(1:10 pm)** _driving? from d.c.?_

 

**(1:15 pm)** yeah. gansey and noah want to make sure you're real. they're coming with me

 

**(1:17 pm)** _ok_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At seven am the morning of 29th, Adam was woken up by text messages from Ronan documenting Gansey and Noah's arrival. Then at eight he was informed they were leaving, and Adam shot out of bed to immediately take a shower, even though he wasn't going to see Ronan for at least eight hours.

"Is the apocalypse starting?" Blue asked under piles of pillows and blankets.

"No," Adam replied, confused.

"Then stop making so much noise this early," Blue grumbled, and she threw a pillow in his direction but missed.

 

**(10:03 am)** fucking nothing but cows out here

 

**(10:15 am)** _don't you want to have a career where you're surrounded by cows?_

 

**(10:30 am)** yeah but they're fucking boring to look at for four hours.  these aren't MY cows

 

**(12:14 pm)** we pulled over for lunch and i'm so bored already. six hours to go

 

**(12:21 pm)** _you let your friends talk you out of flying_

 

**(12:31 pm)** yeah why did i let that happen

 

**(12:39 pm)** _because you're a dumbass_

 

**(12:41 pm)** i'm pulling this car around!! 

 

**(12:43 pm)** _bye [hand wave emoji]_

 

**(12:45 pm)** i mean it

 

**(12:46 pm)** _no making out for you_

 

**(12:50 pm)** ugh fine

 

**(2:03 pm)** it's boring this is boring

 

**(2:05 pm)** _you said that already_

**(2:07 pm)** _maybe try to nap or something_

 

**(3:07 pm)** [1 attachment]

**(3:08 pm)** how do i ditch my friends in a moving vehicle

 

The attachment was a video of Gansey and Noah singing along to some shitty music and Ronan telling them they would never make it on American idol.

"I don't need that Simon Pegg guy telling me I'm not talented," Gansey scoffed.

"Gansey, even I know that's not his name."

 

**(5:33 pm)** we're pulling into the city now

 

**(5:34 pm)** _already????_

 

**(5:35 pm)** yeah i drove for a while there. i've been banned to the backseat though

 

Adam jumped up from his desk, startling Blue who was reading on his bed. She looked over, confused as she watched him spiraling.

"What is it?"

"He's almost here," he said.

"Oh." Blue shut her book. " _Finally_."

He rolled his eyes at her. "You're telling me."

 

**(5:38 pm)** it's suddenly ugly

 

**(5:41 pm)** _you've been complaining the entire trip about cows and fields and now you're complaining that you have something other than that to look at_

 

**(5:51 pm)** yes

**(5:51 pm)** keep up, parrish

 

When Ronan told Adam he was only fifteen minutes from Adam's location, Adam hurried on his sweater and jacket and shoes and ran outside to sit at the bench by the parking lot. A few minutes later Blue joined him, as he sat there fidgeting and twitching on the bench, watching for cars coming and going.

When he saw the car pull up he recognized Noah and Gansey through the front window, and he stood on instinct, holding his breath as he watched them pull into a spot. The second the car stopped, a mess of limbs and dark clothing rolled out the backseat, and then there he was.

“Oh, he’s real,” said Blue, almost like she didn’t believe it until now.

“I told you,” Adam replied, but he didn’t look away from Ronan, as Ronan didn’t look away from him.

Everything slowed as Ronan walked to him. His eyes were bluer. His smile was sharper. His height was taller.

"You're taller than I was expecting," he commented out loud, swallowing as Ronan was right there a breath away.

Ronan sheepishly touched at the back of his neck like he was shy about his height. He was probably just shy in general. God, why was he shy at all? He was beautiful.

"Do I look child sized to you in my photos?" he said, his first wisecrack two seconds after arriving. Adam wasn't surprised. He reached and touched at Ronan's leather jacket. It was real.

"No, but..." He swallowed. "Fuck. Hi."

"Hi." Ronan leaned into him. This was so weird. It felt more like a vivid dream, but it was real, because if it were a dream Blue wouldn't be standing next to him expectantly and Ronan's friends wouldn't be walking toward them from the parking lot.

He was taking Ronan in, from his hands to his clothes to his face to his everything. He seemed to be doing the same, and after a moment of taking each other in, Ronan's brow rose in silent question. "So..." His eyes trailed over Adam, making him feel so exposed out here, and he blushed under his scrutinizing gaze. "Are we just going to stand around like idiots-"

Adam reached for the back of his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. Something he had been wanting to do for months, and now he could. Ronan's hands were on him, real and warm and solid, pulling at his sweater as he gripped him tight. His own hands reached and held at Ronan's face, feeling the stubble against his palms and his lips. The kiss changed everything, and it felt like it was altering every cell in his body, changing the direction of the wind and the earth's rotation. In reality it was obviously just a kiss, awkward and weird and yet somehow familiar and perfect. It was everything he wanted in this kiss, in this moment, as he disappeared into it and thought of nothing else.

When the kiss was over, they stood there, foreheads touching, breathing the other one in. Adam could feel Ronan's racing heart under his hands, his own matching in speed. Ronan smelled better than he imagined, felt better, looked better in person than he did in the terribly lit quality of their video calls. Ronan's eyes were still closed when he looked, and he reached for his chin to tilt his face so he could kiss him again.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Blue meeting his friends, Chainsaw sitting frustratedly on Gansey's head, but he would meet them soon enough. He would introduce Blue to Ronan soon enough. For now this was just them.

"This is so much better than texting," Ronan whispered, before lifting Adam up off the ground a few inches, arms holding at his waist as he kissed him hard on the mouth. Without thinking or caring, Adam laughed like a kid, overjoyed by all the sensations. He agreed.

This was better.

"I'm never letting you go," he whispered.

Ronan smiled against their kiss. "I wouldn't mind that. Might be hard for showers and schoolwork and stuff though-"

"Asshole," Adam laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> i love kudos and comments bc it's what drives me so pls feel free to leave both thank you xx
> 
> tumblr - cabeswatergreywaren
> 
> twitter adam__parrish


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